When I'm Ready
by The Lone Ice Rose
Summary: This is my idea of what would happen if Blues (Protoman) were forced to go home after the events of Mega Man 3. This is actually based on the comics, but there was no category for that, so I had to go with the next best thing. I would recommend reading the comics (at least up to 35) before reading this, or else some parts may confuse you. This is a one shot. Enjoy!


When I'm Ready

Disclaimer: The characters, items and places belong to Capcom. The picture belongs to Archie Comics. The meme is by me.

(Based on the comic books sometime during the Mega Man 3 arc)

Blues sat under a tree near Light Labs, listening to the joy and happiness swell inside the building. He hadn't felt like going back to Dr. Wily just yet, so instead he had come here.

Sometimes you just need to feel sad, to know what you've been robbed of in life. Sometimes it's refreshing to wander through the dusty basements of your mind; the ones filled with lost mementoes that had beloved memories attached to them.

He was too immersed to notice the dark clouds gathering overhead. Too distracted to hear the rumbling thunder cautioning him to leave. But he did hear the deafening sound of lightning sizzling through the air right before it hit the tree.

Blues opened his eyes slowly, feeling disoriented and dizzy. Someone was shouting. He waited for his fuzzy vision to clear before seeing what was going on. He was on a table, a familiar table from his past. A colorful cluster of wires were sticking out of his chest and Blues resisted the urge to rip them out. Instead, he focused his attention on the yelling person.

"Blues! Blues! Say something, anything! Please be okay! Oh, I'll never forgive myself for this! Oh, for the love of Asimov, Blues..."

He came to a startling conclusion that it was in fact Dr. Light that was screaming his head off.

"Doc..doctor?" He questioned.

"You're awake! You're alive! Blues, my boy!" He felt arms wrap around him and realized Light was hugging him. It made him think of his first few seconds of life, the same loving hug in the same place, but under drastically different circumstances.

"What happened?" He asked after the doctor had released him. He put a hand to his roaring head. He felt like barfing, even though he hadn't had an E-Tank in years.

"Roll found you outside when she went out for groceries. As for what happened to you, some of your hardware was fried, so my estimate is that you were struck by lightning from that storm last night, my boy."

He shook his head. Sitting under a tree in the middle of a storm. How stupid could you get?

"And my I.C chip?" Blues tried to say this as cooly as possible, as if the doctor's response wouldn't bother him.

Dr. Light winced slightly, a gesture you wouldn't notice hadn't you been expecting it. "I didn't dare touch it. I know you're sensitive about, you know..." He started rummaging around the room distractedly, but Blues doubted he was actually looking for anything.

Luckily for him, Rock and Roll burst into the room at that moment, carrying a worn cardboard box of discarded spare parts.

"Is he dead?" Rock's voice quavered. Blues was slightly shocked that he genuinely cared about his health, after all he'd put him through.

"And we'd be better for it." Roll said coldly. She, on the other hand, seemed to have the exact opposite of her brother's feelings for Blues.

"I'm not dead." Blues stated as he struggled to get up.

"Not yet." Roll muttered and turned away from him.

He ignored her for the time being. "How long have I been offline?"

"For about a week. I had just finished your last diagnostics when you woke up." Dr. Light answered.

"Can I leave now?" He asked, wanting to get out of this memory chocked room as quickly as possible.

"Well actually..." Dr. Light started and his eyes flicked over to the other two.

"Will you stay?" Rock questioned politely, his eyes full of irrational hope.

"No." Blues said, shooting Rock's suggestion down without a second thought. "Now, if you excuse, I'm going to leave." He brushed past a droopy looking Rock, a gloomy doctor, and a fuming Roll who currently looked more like an active volcano than a housekeeping robot girl.

Rock ran after him. "You said you would apologize to Roll! You promised!" His words echoed on the empty hall walls. "You said you were fighting Ra Moon for Roll! Remember that?! If you can fight for her, apologizing is nothing! Can't you at least stay long enough for that?!"

When he finally caught up to Blues, Blues turned around and looked him square in the eyes. "It's not just Roll." He started walking again and Rock jogged next to his older brother to keep up.

"Then what is it?"

Blues sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had a feeling Rock would ask him that.

"It's this place and the people in it." He grumbled, already thoroughly irritated by the day's events so far.

"What about it? It's not like it's a moldy dungeon that we clean once a year. And what do you have against us?!"

Blues sighed, and against his better judgement, told Rock the truth. "I can't live here after what I've done to you and what you've done to me. There's too many memories in here, both good and bad. I'm better off alone, with nothing to tie me down. Leave me be."

Rock was silent and stayed where he stood as Blues brushed past him. He swung open the door and had one foot through the doorframe when Rock spoke for a final time.

"Hey." He said. Blues turned around, his figure illuminated by the light outside, making him look darker and otherworldly. Rock paused before speaking, his eyes shining with earnesty. "We want you to stay because we love you. We don't care that you've made mistakes. We love you."

Blues slammed the door harder than he intended. He slouched against the door and began to whistle. He felt like that was the only thing left to do.

Rock stood in the hallway for a while, thinking about his brother. He heard the faint trademark window snaking in through the cracks of the door.

Rock had a sudden idea. He tiptoed over to the entrance and opened the door slowly. The whistle came to an abrupt stop. Blues looked at Rock, who was towering over him and smiling fondly. For a moment they did nothing, just stared at each other and wondered what to do next.

"We love you." Rock said softly and reached down to give his brother a hug. Blues stiffened at first but then let himself be enveloped by brotherly love.

Finally, Rock pulled away. He had a gleam of confidence in his eyes. "We'll always love you. Wherever you may be."

Blues nodded and gave a small smile, his first genuine smile in years. He got up and started walking away into the light of the afternoon sun. Soon he was only a dark silhouette.

Rock was just leaving to go back inside when he heard Blue's trademark whistle riding on the wind. Maybe it was just him, but the tune seemed to have a happier ring to it, a bounce in it's step instead of it's typical somber elegance.

He leaned against the door frame and grinned as he realized why the music was light and peppy today. Because now it had a new memory tied to it, a joyful moment tangled and twisted into the fabric of the song. And that moment, that blossoming memory, was him.

The next day in the wee hours of dawn, Rock went out to put the trash can out for the garbage truck. As he walked back up the exceptionally large driveway, he noticed a note taped to the door.

It was a small, crumpled piece of dirty scrap paper with three words written on it. 'When I'm ready.' To an outsider, or anyone else for that matter, this message would seem meaningless. But Rock knew what it meant and he gazed into the distance where the sun was slowly beginning it's ascent. Where his brother had walked away mere hours before.

"I'll be waiting." Rock whispered and carefully stashed away the note in his pocket before slipping back inside. "I'll be waiting."

Blues walked steadily away from Light Labs, the place that had taught him to love. He shuddered. It taught him to love too much. He loved Light too much, and cared too much about what the doctor said and did. He still did love his father and that's what made him shy away. Under his grudges and emotions lay a single grain of truth. He just couldn't handle his heart being broken again. He needed time to mend, time to learn to trust and forgive. And then maybe, just maybe, he could learn to love again. When he was ready.

**A/N: I wrote this a while ago as an exploratory what-if situation, but I kept coming back to it, so I thought, what the heck I'll publish it.**


End file.
